Staying Live: Mucky Duck owners Anthony (left) and Alex Buich say outdoor shows help make Alvarado Street a destination: “We’re part of the revitalization of downtown.” Photo by Nic Coury.
Throwdowntown
Monterey debates future of Alvarado, starting with Mucky Duck.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
The sizzling sounds of Jake Nielsen’s blues guitar give Monterey’s Alvarado Street an electric charge on a recent Friday night. The Watsonville musician is a fixture of the outdoor live music scene at the newly revitalized Mucky Duck.
Alex and Anthony Buich, who took over the once-troubled downtown spot last June, say outdoor entertainment has brought in business, especially since the city Planning Commission relaxed restrictions on patio use and hours of operation in October.
But the looser rules didn’t resonate with City Manager Fred Meurer. He appealed the decision Nov. 4, writing, “The Planning Commission compromised the city’s efforts to improve the character of the downtown.”
Noise and safety concerns, particularly the shooting outside the bar that wounded three people last New Year’s Day, loomed large in his argument.
The Duck had become a magnet for drunken brawls well before the shooting, logging 122 police incident reports between Jan. 1, 2010 and Jan. 13, 2011. Another Alvarado business, the Hippodrome nightclub, shut down in November after the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control suspended its liquor license.
Numerous community members, including Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce President Jody Hansen, spoke in support of the Buich brothers when the Mucky Duck appeal went before the City Council Dec. 6. But the council voted 4-1 to restrict patio hours and events, and cut off alcohol sales at midnight instead of 1:30am, as Meurer suggested.
Mayor Chuck Della Sala dissented, arguing the restrictions didn’t go far enough. “We need to look long-term on this,” he said.
Accordingly, officials want to use the Mucky Duck’s scaled-back operations as the baseline for bars and clubs citywide.
Senior Planner Kim Cole says her staff will begin work next month on ordinances that could restrict alcohol sales and outdoor amplified live entertainment everywhere from Calle Principal to Cannery Row.
“Everything’s on the table,” she says.
Cole’s also finishing work on a glossy manual on the city’s long-term vision for downtown. She’ll present it to the Planning Commission Jan. 10.
The Buiches are concerned that vision clashes with theirs.
“If you want to revitalize downtown, you don’t take away energetic nightlife,” Anthony says. “Curfews for downtown will be a death sentence for us.”
Downtown developers and property owners see it differently.
“Volume from live outdoor music is problematic when we’re trying to bring people into the downtown to live,” says Jerry Anderson, property manager for the building next to the Mucky Duck.
The city’s downtown plan is anchored by mixed-use developments aimed at increasing the number of people living there. Anderson, along with Meurer and downtown developer Doug Wiele, worry investors and potential residents will balk at bands playing a few feet from their windows.
Fans of live local music, however, applaud the Duck’s focus on outdoor concerts.
“One of the things that drew me to Monterey was the vibrant local music scene,” says 50-year-old Jeff Rothal, a longtime resident who works near downtown.
Sarah Nelson, 31, feels the city’s downtown vision ignores the large student population in its midst. “Keep our generation in mind,” she said at the Dec. 6 council meeting.
Anderson, meanwhile, is stumped on how to make downtown a destination for everyone.
“We’ve worked on it,” he says, “and we’ve come up short.”
Comments
This is the goofiest town... Does Monterey get that people who choose to live downtown are usually trying to get closer to things to do? I have the hardest time trying to find things for visitors to do after 9 pm because we live in what has to be the most beautiful but boring place around. You don't have to have a disco on every corner but emulating Pacific Grove isn't your best bet - this hasn't worked well for them either...
First of all.... moving into down town you should already know what you are getting yourself into, thats why its called DOWNTOWN and people move there to be close to everything. Plus monterey is made of tourist they come for the wharf, canery row and the aquarium during the day and at night people want to be able to get entertainment and dinner. If monterey starts losing its tourist the whole town will die. I grew up with all the history and downtown plays a huge part and because of the new owners of The Mucky Duck they fit right into how monterey lives, with great food and class!
This town is so dead... matter of fact, the whole county is pretty lame these days. I sum it up thusly:
Carmel: zzzzzzz, Prune danish is the high point of my day!
PG: Zzzzzzz, with cherries on top (after 9pm)
Monterey: Wheeeezing, in it's death throes
Salinas: Dead-ly
This was ridiculously difficult to read without wanting to go right down to the city and ask them why they keep going with the theme of "Let's tell people it's something it's not...and let's also tell them it's not something it is." It's DOWNTOWN...night life is exactly the POINT. This is the reason why I tell my visiting friends to go to Santa Cruz or San Francisco or even Carmel. If the city is holding back the revenue from locals and tourists that want to spend it downtown at night because of one or two seniors that might want to buy a condo and live downtown, they're missing the point. That's NOT the market someone looking for quite would even look for. It IS the market someone looking for action WOULD look for. Trust that. It happens everyday in cities with thriving downtown communities. Crazy, I know. The whole point of downtown is to be CLOSE to what's "going on". It's a choice people actually make ON PURPOSE...it's not always "happening to them".
The city has the hands of the local business owners tied to do anything to save the nightlife at the desire to provide an environment for EVERYONE...at the cost of everyone. And I'm NOT a business owner, I live in PG, I'm middle aged with kids. I would also like to not drive to another area to have a night of drinks and entertainment with my friends. Please...give me a place to spend my money! It would be wonderful to see the city leadership actually support a thriving downtown by providing them with the opportunities to do that rather than limitations to work by. It's not serving anyone...literally.
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